My Appearance on WGST's "The Sully Show" 8/29/14 Talking Items From the Emmy Awards Gifting Suites

Rick and Sully talk about the recent Emmy Awards Gifting Lounges which Rick was invited to

Rick was also invited to three different Emmy Awards Gifting Lounges in Beverly Hills last week  (The WOW Lounge, the Secret Room Lounge and the GBK Lounge) to see the latest gadgets and products. These suites are put on so celebs and media can come out and sample and get these latest gadgets.

Rick sent Danielle Lao, his co-author on "The Invaluable Experience" to go since she lives in LA and Rick was in the U.P. of Michigan.

listen to ‘The Sully Show August 29, 2014’ on Audioboo

**Topics**   - Products from the Emmy Awards Gifting Lounges

1. Beantown Bedding

Biodegradable bedding that you can dispose of in 2 weeks. Great for travel use, college students, or maybe even visitors.

 
2. Maxim Mattress

www.maximmattress.com

For the past 30 years the company has continually been on the cutting edge of new mattress technology and materials, providing customers with the latest comfort mattresses.  Handcrafted in the USA, Maxim Mattresses are technically engineered to provide support and comfort for restful sleeping.
Some of the technology

Soft Tech Motion-Activated Support System is the latest revolutionary enhanced coil technology.  The system supports your body by instantly adjusting to your sleep movements and the natural contour of your body with minimum motion transfer. These fabric encased coils are proven to dramatically reduce partner disturbance caused by tossing and turning. In addition the mattress stays airy, fresh, and never needs turning.

Individually wrapped Pocket Coils are an advanced innerspring support system supporting your body where you need it the most. Each individually wrapped pocket coil works independently to also absorb motion, preventing partner motion disturbance.

LFK Springs are cylindrical open-ended springs that are bound at both ends by spiral wire. The LFK Spring Structure enhances body support, where each coil is resilient and works together to create an overall and effective response to what ever load. This structure is partially flexible and very durable.

Premium Foams are durable and sustainable foams that provide cushion and comfort in the mattress. Each foam combination is used to create a variety of comfort levels from ultra soft plush to ultra firm.  

Foam Encased mattresses provide superior edge support around the mattress, allowing for more stretch space and edge-to-edge sleeping area. The advanced foam encasement strengthens the mattress while providing corner to corner support and comfort.  Our units provide 360 degrees of innerspring encasement with 3.5" of side foam casing.

Luxurious Quilts are designer multi-needle quilts made from luxurious fabrics. These high-end fabrics are soft on the body, made with fibers that create cushion on the surface level of the mattress.  
Latex Foam is elastic, long lasting foam that is extremely breathable and resilient.  The hypo-allergenic properties breathe better keeping you cooler in the summer, while keeping you warm in the winter.  Bacteria, mildew, and mold cannot live in latex foam.    

 

3. Koreball

$59.99  www.koreball.com

Training tool that you can fill with water (there is a sand version too if you want to create heavier weight). Serves as a kettle bell and a medicine ball. Creator claims it to be a great traveling training tool. There are suppose to be new exercises they post online on their website.
 

4. LG Tone Pro, Infinim

Pro
Around-The-Neck Wearing Style with Body-Contoured Fit
Quick Access Controls
Vibration On/Off
Stream Music While On The Go
$70 range

Infinim
Harman Kardon® Signature Sound
Retractable Earbuds with Wire Management
Stylish & Sleek Design
Jog Button
$150

 
5. The Original Pet Pal

Pet bed that simulates a mother's heartbeat. Supposedly great for when puppies have separation anxiety.
www.theoriginalpetpal.com
 

 

My Appearance on WGST's "The Sully Show" 8/15/14 Talking Green Bay and Football Tech

Rick joins Sully for the second day in a row and they talk about Rick Still being in Green Bay and new technology in football.

Rick is in Green Bay all week at Packers training camp and checking out various things in Green Bay   website:  www.greenbay.com

(My volume is really low for some reason, so you may have to turn up the volume all the way) :)

listen to ‘The Sully Show August 15, 2014’ on Audioboo

1.  High School team to test new high tech helmet

Riddell approached North Little Rock High's football team about trying a new helmet sensor that can alert trainers when athletes may have sustained a concussion. It's a brand new technology that only a handful of schools around the country are using.

"There's no high school in the state of Arkansas with this technology right now," said North Little Rock Athletic Director Gary Davis. "Concussions are a major concern for every football program."

Davis was honored when Riddell approached his program about trying its new InSite Impact Sensors.

The sensors, put inside a players' helmet, record the strength of every hit and send alerts to a handheld device on the sideline when the impact is strong enough.

"If a kid sustains a big enough impact it will alert the trainer that this happened," said Davis, "which gets us started on the preventative measures and the recuperation of that athlete making sure that we don't put him in any more danger."

The sensors don't just monitor big hits, they record every hit and even send an alert when a individual player sustains multiple lower-level impacts over the course of a week. While Davis would love to put one of these in every football helmet in his school district right now, it's not in the budget.

2.   NFL placing RFID tags in helmets and shoulder pads

“The NFL will use Zebra Technologies’ real-time location system in 17 stadiums during the 2014 season.

The tech will track position, speed, and distance, sending it first to RFID receivers around the arena and then to a database where the NFL is envisioning new uses for the data. Zebra, which is better known for building asset-tracking tech for Fortune 500 companies, will install the receivers in the 15 stadiums that host Thursday Night Football games (Atlanta, Baltimore, Carolina, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Green Bay, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, New England, Oakland, San Francisco, St. Louis, Washington) as well as in Detroit and New Orleans. The data will be captured from all 32 teams and presumably will be shared among them.”

3. New technology on the NFL Sidelines (Tablets)

Gone are the days when NFL teams took Polaroid pictures of plays from atop the stadium during games then send them down to the field on a rope.

Technology improved so that an automated camera could deliver the images to a printer on the sideline, creating that familiar sight of a quarterback staring at a sheet of paper to figure out what went wrong on an interception.

Tablets as in Microsoft Surfaces will be allowed for the first time this season and it started with Sunday's Hall of Fame game, though they won't exactly be running the most cutting-edge apps. The devices will replicate the old system of transmitting still photos to the field — but faster, clearer and in color.

No surfing the Web. No selfies or tweets. And more important from a football standpoint: no watching replays of the last snap.

For every game this season there will be 13 tablets on each sideline and 12 in each coaches’ box providing overhead snapshots. Only now they will arrive more quickly and in color.

Two pictures per play — one just before the snap and one after the play is over — are all the league allows.

4. New 49ers' Levi Stadium  - high tech stadium

The new $1.2 billion 68,500-seat venue 39 miles south of Candlestick Park in Santa Clara and about 30 feet from the 49ers’ team headquarters -- designed something different, creating a stadium with the most lower-bowl seats in the NFL, stacking all the suites in a hotel-like structure on the west side, fully exposing the entirety of the concourses and integrating the high-tech amenities you’d expect from a stadium that features views of some of the world’s most influential tech company headquarters.

The 49ers were able  to glass-in an oversized team store and magnificent 20,000-square-foot museum with 150 artifacts on the street level. A year-round restaurant and television studio also sit at street level.

Located under the seating bowl at the 50-yard-line, one of the more exclusive locations in the venue, the BNY Mellon club -- one of the five clubs and part of the 9,000 club seats -- will give patrons a college-style experience, with the 49ers players walking through the club on their way to the field. While the majority of the club rests below the seats, patrons will move onto the field and up into the stands to find their seats.

Each of the five clubs was created to offer use year-round for special events and designed in a different local theme and indigenous wood, featuring some of the over 200 pieces of original artwork commissioned for the building or 49ers photos.

A 25-beer tap room on the main concourse will attract visitors and the upper deck end zones each feature club-style party decks directly below the 200 feet by 48 feet scoreboards, one sponsored by Budweiser and the other Pepsi. The Budweiser deck, with a nice view of the roller coasters at next-door California’s Great America amusement park, has a wide offering of beverages planned.

The scoreboards, the highest points of the stadium, rise 188 feet, the tallest allowed by the FAA as Levi’s Stadium sits directly below the San Jose airport’s flight path. Southwest Airlines -- one of the largest carriers to the airport -- will get plenty of free advertising that way.

The stadium’s other high-flying location is the 27,000-square-foot green roof atop the suite tower that includes 16 different species of plants. The roof can open like a club-style venue offering fans the ability to mingle near the stadium lighting, an experience unlike any other in sports.

Expect plenty of sustainable aspects to the roof. Along with helping filter water, the roof holds an 18,000 square foot solar terrace that assists with housing 1,162 photovoltaic panels used in the building and on the three pedestrian bridges. Levi’s Stadium plans to score LEED Gold status, the first new professional football stadium to reach it. On game days, the stadium will achieve net-zero energy with the onsite power generation staying in the internal grid.

A new in-stadium app will give fans not only high-speed connectivity, but also access to information and real-time video.

Within the stadium, 2,000 Bluetooth low-energy beacons will provide access to static maps and stadium information. In-app food ordering will allow for in-seat food delivery for every single seat and the team will have over 1,000 runners to handle the demand. But if you get up, you can find charging stations in the drink rails.

From mobile ticketing to GPS locators telling you where the nearest concession fare, beer or restroom is, the “hero feature” of the app, Guido said, is the ability to offer in-game replays and video content.

“You might not have seen if he got two feet inbounds and we can deliver three to five replays and angles within five seconds,” he said of the in-stadium broadcast featuring 13 stadium cameras.

To keep this all working, Levi’s Stadium will have over 400 miles of data cable, including 70 miles of cable to support WiFi, with an access point under every 100 seats. In all, more than 12,000 physical network ports and 1,000 WiFi access points have been installed, supporting a bandwidth 40 times larger than any known U.S. stadium and plenty of IPTV throughout the 4K facility.

Also 194 charging stations for your gadgets.

My Appearance on WGST's "The Sully Show" 8/14/14 Talking Green Bay

Rick makes a special appearance on "The Sully Show" today to talk about Green Bay and the Packers from Green Bay.

listen to ‘The Sully Show August 14, 2014 - Special’ on Audioboo

My Appearance on WGST's "The Sully Show" 8/8/14 Talking the Tech Topics of the Week

Rick and Sully talk the tech topics of the week.

listen to ‘The Sully Show August 8, 2014’ on Audioboo

Sprint Gets New CEO and Deal with T-Mobile won't happen

Sprint Corporation on Wednesday confirmed that its CEO, Dan Hesse, is leaving and will be replaced by Marcelo Claure, founder/CEO of mobile hardware distributor Brightstar. Sprint Corporation’s stock opened 17% down today amidst rumors that is withdrawing its bid to acquire T-Mobile US Inc on account of regulatory opposition. Investors fear that Sprint Corporation will continue to lose market share to bigger rivals like Verizon Communications Inc.

Claure, 43, is already a member of Sprint's board. He'll be resigning from Brightstar, and SoftBank will acquire his remaining interest in the company. Bloomberg states Hesse may receive a $40M+ severance package.

What does this mean for customers?

Hotel Chain Plans Phone-Based Check-in and Room Access

Forbes reports that Hilton Worldwide, international hotel operator, is rolling out smartphone-based guest tools allowing self-service check-in, access to a virtual floorplan to select a room, and (in 2015) actual door access once checked in. The author states the drive for this technology is the growing influence of the swelling ranks of Millennials, who "[...] have a very strong inclination toward automated and self-service customer service." But are there security risks?
 

FBI Studied How Much Drones Impact Your Privacy -- Then Marked It Secret

When federal agencies adopt new technology, they're required by law to do Privacy Impact Assessments, which is exactly what the FBI did regarding its secretive drone program. The PIAs are created to help the public and federal government assess what they're risking through the adoption of new technology. That part is a little trickier, since the FBI is refusing to release any of the PIA on its drone project, stating it needs to be kept, er, private to protect national security.

Rick has the new Amazon Fire smartphone... what does he think?

1. It's an AT&T only phone and Android.
2.  Affordability - At $199 with a contract, or $650 at full price, the Fire Phone goes toe-to-toe with the best phones on the market in price. The price clearly reflects a lot of R&D that Amazon hopes to recoup
3. Design - Ok design, battery life isn't great.  The center hardware button is handy as it helps you quickly get back to the home screen and switch views. But it's also easy to turn the thing on when it is in your pocket, etc.
4.  Great for shopping - Capture bar codes and pictures of devices and you get options to buy them on Amazon.
5. Amazon also includes one year of Amazon Prime, a $99 value. If you are a current Amazon Prime member, then you will get your next year renewed for free. Free, unlimited photo storage on Amazon Cloud Storage is also provided. 1,000 Amazon Coins, a $10 value, will appear in your account so you can try out a few paid apps, books, or movies.

 

And one for Sully......

BlackBerry Launches Redesigned BBM for Windows Phone

BBM for Windows Phone was designed to be consistent with Microsoft's mobile design, reflecting a change in thinking at the updated BlackBerry.
A first release of BBM for Windows Phone is now available for download, BlackBerry announced July 31. The version, which follows a limited Beta release, is compatible with devices running Windows Phone 8 and 8.1.

A longtime favorite of BlackBerry users, the messaging app includes all the expected features—the ability to chat with up to 50 contacts at once, and to share photo albums, voice notes, location information, contacts and more within a chat. Plus, BlackBerry has promised to quickly add new features, such as "stickers, BBM Voice, BBM Channels" and Glympse location sharing, in the months ahead, Jeff Gadway, BlackBerry's head of brand marketing, said in a blog post.

But the app's most notable feature may be its appearance, which is very in line with the Windows Phone aesthetic.

My Appearance on WGST's "The Sully Show" 8/1/14 Talking 'Back to School'

Rick and Sully talk BACK TO SCHOOL this week

Back to School gadgets and tech this week...

Summer is coming to a halt for those in the Metro Atlanta area as schools are getting ready to start.
Some have started this week and some go back next week or soon after.
We look at some cool back to school gadgets and items this week...

Have a listen:

listen to ‘The Sully Show August 1, 2014’ on Audioboo

- I'm asked all the time about the best cases for tablets

1. - Kensington's Throwback Composition Book and Trapper Keeper Cases

Kensington has released some new iPad/tablet cases that look like the old Mead products from the day. - Composition Books and Trapper Keepers

 

2.  Tech21 Cases

Protective iPad Air cases which refrain from concealing the tablet's original look and feel. Whether you're relaxing at home, working or travelling, rest assured that your tablet is impact protected. Enhance your iPad with a splash of colour, or choose our clear case for optical minimalism.
 
3.  Kensington Pro Wireless Mouse   $24.99

The Kensington Pro Fit® Mid-Size Wireless Mouse provides users with clutter-free productivity for an office environment. It compliments mobile laptop usage for travel with a storable nano receiver. The ergonomic, right-handed design with a high-definition optical sensor offers precise and responsive control. The Pro Fit® Mid-Size Wireless Mouse is built to last with a limited lifetime warranty.
Reliable Plug & Play operation with USB connection for Windows® and Chrome OS™
 


4. RCA HDTV Ultra Thin Indoor antenna - for those who want to "cut the cord"

RCA, the original pioneer of color television and antenna technologies, as well as the #1 selling brand of antenna on the market, is pleased to announce the availability of their Ultra-Thin HDTV Indoor Antenna. RCA’s new Ultra-Thin HDTV Indoor Antenna receives free local news, sports, weather and popular TV show broadcasts in both UHF and VHF frequencies in up to 1080i.  About $50  at Radio Shack.

“With the new RCA Ultra-Thin HDTV Indoor Antenna, you can enjoy all your favorite local HD and digital broadcasts without a cable or satellite subscription,” said David Geise, president of Voxx Accessories. “You can watch programs from networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, The CW, PBS, ION, Telemundo, Univision and numerous other stations when you have an antenna. In fact, the broadcast HD channels you receive by antenna have the highest quality definition available. Everyone, including pay TV subscribers and streamers, should have this product.”
The RCA Ultra-Thin HDTV Indoor Antenna is designed to receive broadcast signals in both the UHF and VHF frequencies unlike other companies that only offer UHF reception
 

5. Redbubble.com - An online marketplace for those wanting to buy and see "back to school" items

A very cool website.

From elementary school to college, every kid knows how important it is to head back to class in style. Whether you’re looking for dorm room décor or that first day outfit, Redbubble has a range of products for back-to-school.

Redbubble is an online marketplace for artists to sell their original art on a variety of items – from wall art to cell phone cases, throw pillows to apparel.  With more than 11 million unique designs, you’re sure to find a piece of art that represents your individuality on a product you’ll love to show off. And coming soon, Redbubble will be launching duvet covers, the perfect artistic centerpiece for a dorm room.


 
Livescribe  8 GB Sky Wifi Smartpen

This pen records everything you hear, say, write and draw. It wirelessly syncs notes and audio to your Evernote account. It can replay, organize, search and share your notes on almost any computer or device. The Smartpen holds up to 800 hours of audio and thousands of pages of notes. Includes one-year subscription to Evernote Premium (a $45 value) and a Smartpen Portfolio (a $24.95 value) to carry A5 notebooks, your smartpen and other handy items ($249.95) at Livescribe.com.